memeorandum: Official: Russian forces back rebels with tanks in eastern Ukraine (CNN)

11:05 AM ET, August 28, 2014

Top Items:

Exclusive: GOP poll of women: Party ‘stuck in past’ — A detailed report commissioned by two major Republican groups — including one backed by Karl Rove — paints a dismal picture for Republicans, concluding female voters view the party as “intolerant,” “lacking in compassion” and “stuck in the past.”

Discussion: American Prospect, Pharyngula, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:

Obama's immigration decision could roil 2014 election — Both political parties are in a state of high anxiety over the possibility that President Obama will allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the country, fearing that White House action on the issue could change the course of November's midterm elections.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ABC News, National Review, RedState and New York Times

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:
Export-Import Bank faces rocky path to renewal as Congress returns

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:
Will Republicans Shut Down the Government Again?

Discussion: Daily Kos, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Hill, The Huffington Post, Hot Air and The New Republic

The Huffington Post:

NRA: ‘Children Can Have Fun At The Shooting Range’ — WASHINGTON — Less than two days after a 9-year-old girl in Arizona accidentally shot and killed a gun range instructor who was showing her how to fire an Uzi, the National Rifle Association on Wednesday touted new ways for children to “have fun” at shooting ranges.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story, ABC News, Hullabaloo, PoliticusUSA, CNN and Hot Air

New York Times:

A 9-Year-Old at a Shooting Range, a Spraying Uzi and Outrage — WHITE HILLS, Ariz. — The four-hour tours offered by one of the big gun ranges here are a popular tourist attraction: Starting at $200 a person, a bus will pick up visitors at their hotel in Las Vegas, 25 miles to the north …

Discussion: The Mahablog and Outside the Beltway

Mark Follman / Mother Jones:
In Wake of Arizona Uzi Killing, NRA Tweets About Kids Having Fun With Guns

Discussion: Mashable, Liberaland and CBS New York

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

Why Hagan wins North Carolina — Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) is the target of what could be the most aggressive, dishonest, vindictive and lavishly financed negative campaign against any statewide candidate I've ever seen, yet according to the summary of polling from Real Clear Politics …

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Republicans' “Thought” to 2014 Election Exceeds Democrats'

Discussion: Washington Post

Politico:
Poll: Romney breaks away in Iowa

Discussion: Prairie Weather, The PJ Tatler and Hullabaloo

Salon:
The left's secret midterm weapon: How marijuana ballot initiatives can change turnout

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Democratic Strategist

Rand Paul / Wall Street Journal:

How U.S. Interventionists Abetted the Rise of ISIS — Our Middle Eastern policy is unhinged, flailing about to see who to act against next, with little regard to consequences.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Business Insider, The Daily Caller and Washington Post

Investor's Business Daily:

Holder Cut Left-Wing Groups In On $17 Bil BofA Deal — Extortion: Radical Democrat activist groups stand to collect millions from Attorney General Eric Holder's record $17 billion deal to settle alleged mortgage abuse charges against Bank of America. — Buried in the fine print of the deal …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Power Line and National Review

Noah Rothman / Hot Air:

Two legal guests tell CNN their Brown shooting audio might be a hoax — For more than 24-hours, CNN has been regularly playing a clip of audio which purports to reveal the exact moment when 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot by Officer Darren Wilson. Each time it was played …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, NewsBusters and The PJ Tatler

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:
CNN NOW WORRIED FERGUSON SHOOTING AUDIO IS HOAX

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, CNN, The Daily Caller and Ed Driscoll

Ahiza Garcia / Talking Points Memo:
Ben Stein: Michael Brown Was ‘Armed With His Incredibly Strong, Scary Self’

Discussion: Shakesville

Brendan James / Talking Points Memo:

Gillibrand To Male Colleague Who Called Her ‘Porky’: ‘Thanks A—hole’ — In promoting her new book, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has come forward with several stories of being called “chubby,” “fat,” and “porky” by her male colleagues in Congress. — In one incident from her early days in the Senate …

Discussion: Jezebel, Hot Air, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Mediaite and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
Kirsten Gillibrand: Peers called me ‘porky’

Discussion: Business Insider, People.com and CNN

Martha P. Nochimson / Vox:

Did Tony die at the end of The Sopranos? — David Chase finally answers the question he wants fans to stop asking — The main topic of conversation about The Sopranos, seven years after the series finale, is still whether Tony Soprano, mob boss of North Jersey, is dead or not.

Discussion: Althouse, New York Times, CNN, Mediaite, The Verge, Gawker, The Daily Caller, SBNation.com and Inside TV

Garrett Epps / The Atlantic Online:

The Extreme Partisanship of John Roberts's Supreme Court — Like Barack Obama, the chief justice came into office promising an age of apolitical comity. And like the president, he has seen his dream die. — “Politics are closely divided,” John Roberts told scholar Jeffrey Rosen after his first term as chief justice.

CNN:

Official: Russian forces back rebels with tanks in eastern Ukraine — Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) — Pro-Moscow rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, backed by Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, battled government forces on two fronts Thursday, a Ukrainian military official said.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Business Insider, Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler and New York Times

New York Times:

Timothy Wu for Lieutenant Governor — The office of lieutenant governor in New York is a feeble one. The current occupant — Robert Duffy, a former mayor of Rochester — was handpicked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2010 and spent the last four years promoting the governor's agenda around the state.

Discussion: The Hill, Gawker, Capital New York, Weekly Standard, Mediaite, Hot Air and National Review

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:

The Biggest Tax Scam Ever — Some of America's top corporations are parking profits overseas and ducking hundreds of billions in taxes. And how's Congress responding? It's rewarding them for ripping us off — In July, the American pharmaceutical giant AbbVie, maker of the world's top-selling drug …

Discussion: The Dish

Alan I. Abramowitz / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

False Hope: Why Libertarians Won't Help Republicans Win the Youth Vote — The Republican Party has a major problem with young voters. According to national exit polls, the GOP has lost the under-30 vote by a wide margin in every election since 2004. In 2012, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

Obama Shouldn't Bomb ISIS in Syria — We have no strategy for intervening there, and no reason to think it will work. — Let's hope that President Obama does not bomb ISIS inside Syria—unless, maybe, the airstrikes are coordinated with some other country's troops on the ground.

Discussion: RedState, New York Times, Guardian, Politico and Talking Points Memo

Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:
Obama Wants New ISIS War Plan ASAP

Discussion: Hot Air, ABC News, RedState, NO QUARTER USA NET and New York Times

The United States Department of Justice:

Former Iowa State Senator Pleads Guilty to Concealing Federal Campaign Expenditures — A former Iowa State Senator pleaded guilty today to concealing payments he received from a presidential campaign in exchange for switching his support and services from one candidate to another and to obstructing …

Discussion: Des Moines Register, addictinginfo.org, Washington Post, OpenSecrets.org, The Raw Story and New York Times